Question about Rec Ltrs

[AnchorAlumna]

Originally Posted by AGDee

As I think about this, what I'm primarily reading is a concern that No Recs will not be possible if anybody can write a rec. Concerns that bad apples will get through? Is that an accurate assessment? Wouldn't that kind of communication still be possible? How often do chapters get those? If they got conflicting recs from different alumnae, was there a process to deal with that? What if there were 4 glowing and 1 "no way"? I honestly don't know how those situations were handled or how often they happened because the schools I worked with most closely rarely ever saw a rec, except for legacies, most of the time. I never in my 30 years of volunteering saw a No Rec come in.

In almost 50 years, I've written maybe 6 or 7 "no" recs.
But I've seen more when a bad apple could have been prevented from joining if the chapter had bothered to even half-heartedly tried to find a rec. Like the girl who stabbed another member...lots of info available....but there's always the girl who comes in with sterling recs and proceeds to attempt to bed the entire football team, and brags about it. No alum saw that coming.
Even with recs, you don't know, but it's still worth the effort.

[carnation]

I've spoken about this before here, but my daughter and I were camp counselors years ago and there was a counselor who slapped the assistant director in the face and then dragged her nails on her. She later asked my daughter and me for rush recs!!

We no-recced her so fast, with details. The rec chairman of my daughter's group called our house for her but she wasn't there. She asked me to thank her because they had run a police check on the girl and she had a record for assault. (I guess the Scouts didn't check.)

Epilogue: the girl didn't get a bid and freaked out and the college president pressured the only group who didn't make quota to take her. A year later, another daughter was trying out for the dance line at that college and we asked one of the current members if they knew Mean Girl. She said yep, her group had been forced to pledge her, and she was kicked out a few weeks later for attacking another member.

And that, folks, is why we need no-recs.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by carnation

I've spoken about this before here, but my daughter and I were camp counselors years ago and there was a counselor who slapped the assistant director in the face and then dragged her nails on her. She later asked my daughter and me for rush recs!!

We no-recced her so fast, with details. The rec chairman of my daughter's group called our house for her but she wasn't there. She asked me to thank her because they had run a police check on the girl and she had a record for assault. (I guess the Scouts didn't check.)

Epilogue: the girl didn't get a bid and freaked out and the college president pressured the only group who didn't make quota to take her. A year later, another daughter was trying out for the dance line at that college and we asked one of the current members if they knew Mean Girl. She said yep, her group had been forced to pledge her, and she was kicked out a few weeks later for attacking another member.

And that, folks, is why we need no-recs.

But allowing recs from others does not preclude you writing a no-rec for someone like that. Even when you wrote that no-rec, the person may have received multiple positive recs from people who didn't know about that specific incident.

[carnation]

There are chapters that don't allow any recs now, positive or negative. Of course, it has all just gone underground and people text each other.

[AnchorAlumna]

Originally Posted by AGDee

But allowing recs from others does not preclude you writing a no-rec for someone like that. Even when you wrote that no-rec, the person may have received multiple positive recs from people who didn't know about that specific incident.

All you can do is put the info into the chapter's hands.
What they do after that is their decision.